good morning. i'm millsissa rehberger. we're following the latest on the northeast blizzard. more snow and hurricane force winds. as the east coast wakes up officials in cities like philadelphia are assessing how bad it is and bracing for what's yet to come. here is a live look at new york city where more than seven inches of snow has fallen. even before the snow started to accumulate the city that mefr sleeps virtually shut down. the travel ban in new york city which began at 11:00 last night remains in effect for

nonemergency vehicles and mass transit is suspended until further notice. restrictions on nonessential travel in effect in massachusetts, connecticut and rhode island. air travel has also come to a crawl. at least 7,000 flights into and out of the region have been canceled. service on commuter rails like amtrak is also suspended. it's not just the record snowfall that's set to wreak havoc. coastal towns like boston and nantucket are already reporting significant flooding due to storm surges during high tide earlier. the storm could unleash 20 foot waves. take a look at this video from massachusetts. crews are cutting power to the area. they are trying to prevent any fires from sparking especially if there is flooding. the weather channel's mike seidel in plymouth, massachusetts, which is getting pounded by snow and high surf right now. he filed this report for us just a short while ago.

apparently we don't have that from mike seidel. we're live in boston where 20 to 30 inches of snow are expected chris. how intense is it this morning? >> it's pretty intense, milissa. this is exactly what was promised here. i know a lot of places to the west like new york city are not quite getting snow totals predicted but boston is because it shifted to the east a little bit. i checked storm totals in and around massachusetts, strusberry in the center of the state near worcester, 18 inches. up near the border, 16 inches of snow. it's blowing, wind gusts up to 20 30 up to 40 miles per hour. down on the cape and islands we've seen wind gusts on nantucket island of nearly 80 miles per hour. that's higher than hurricane force. so that means there are at least 10,000 people without power in

massachusetts, most of those in southeastern massachusetts and cape cod at this point. as the storm keeps going, they say the intense snowfall coming at a couple inches maybe more than that an hour could continue through noon eastern time. the storm itself will continue past midnight into wednesday a little bit. so this is certainly an intense storm that was promised in new england, milissa. >> it looks bitterly cold. let's say warm. let's go to mike seidel who is reporting and filed this report from plymouth, massachusetts. >> what we have this morning is surge, high tide. the tide going out, down to the cape. right here the water came up and covered the entire front yard. you can see the tide way above where it should be. the parking lot behind me let's

zoom in -- the wind out here and drifting. look at the waves out there. can you see those? that is not the harbor. that's the parking lot here in plymouth. so the whole parking lot is under water. the coastal flood warning, which one goes to 7:00. then another one, upgraded the watch to warning from 3:00 to 7:00 this afternoon because this wind will be unrelenting all day long. we're. we're gusting 50 miles an hour. hurricane force in nantucket and across the cape gusting up to 70 miles an hour. all power outages down in the south shore, south coast and out on the cape. i want to show you some of these drifts. some of these are 3.5 to 4 footers. i don't know how much snow we've had. it's impossible to measure the area. easily a foot of snow and we've

got another 8 to 12 inches today. the wind is going to be howling into this evening. the blizzard warning goes until 1:00 a.m. wednesday morning. these drifts back here cover the entire front yard. we've got visibility down to about a quarter mile here in the plymouth area. other than that everybody pretty much stay home in massachusetts, mass transit shut down all streets are closed. everybody is basically hopefully staying home and hopefully staying warm. we're keeping our fingers crossed we don't have a lot of power going out. i can tell you our hotel parking lot is full of power company trucks. they are ready to pounce on this once the weather backs off later today and tonight. >> mike seidel, thank you. nbc meteorologist bill karins is tracking the storm. bill. >> good morning to you, milissa. tracking the storm all night, the storm has blown up just as explosive and big and powerful as they expected but just about

25 to 50 miles further to the east. that's more out to sea. that has spared a few areas and the worst of the storm. mostly sections of new jersey philadelphia new york city who did get hit but not as bad as expected. all the way to the hudson valley, albany, new york area. the storm itself is peaking out intensity, benchmark, a spot off caped cod. if storms travel over that location usually we know they will be pretty bad and pretty bad. that's what happened in eastern new england. storm at its peak. power outages. big huge snowdrifts. this is when they are occurring out there. new york city area under a winter storm warning, seven, eight inches topping off around nine or ten. the snow bands everyone was waiting to see where it set up has set up this morning over long island back through providence, through the wooster area all of coastal main. right where the blizzard

warnings are is right where the worst of the snow is. you can see on the map i colored in darker blue. you can see where the heavier bands of snow are. they are plowing off the ocean. there's one, two, and there's another one. the one that just came in on long island see that yellow flash there, that was thundersnow. a lightning strike near cape cod canal. when you get that happening you can get the force of the snow in an hour and in a hurry. with that whiteout condition we have winds in 30 to 40 boston to providence newport, 51. impressive. 60 out of providence. overnight winds high in the 70 miles per hour range out there on nantucket and martha's vineyard. thankfully those areas get a lot of big storms every year. adopt expect power outages. winds weren't as bad in new jersey or long island. that's why we're seeing power outages in the area. as far as snow totals for the entire area boston d.c. couple of inches new york eight to twelve but still a chance of two feet of snow from portland

all the way down through boston and prov southern california but as far as central california doing fine today. temperatures in the 50s in most cases. mills, "the worst of the storm occurring right now. we'll wait to see how bad it gets. >> it was a scary moment for nbc reporter stacy bell when a car nearly ran right into her when she was finishing a live report on long island. >> reporter: earlier today nasa county executive did say they have treated the roads that are normally trouble spots. they have the plows out. so he thinks they are ready for this and they are ahead of this storm as the snow continues to fall overnight only time will tell. reporting live from nasa county

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to saudi arabia right now after wrapping up a three-day trip to india. chris jansing in new delhi with more on the president's trip. good morning, chris. >> good morning, milissa. president obama has two onmain goals going to saudi arabia. the first is to pay his respects following the loss of king abdullah. he brought a contingent with him that includes nancy pelosi. meeting up with him there will be secretary of state john kerry. also former secretary of state condoleezza rice. there's also some business to do after the arrival ceremony and dinner there is going to be a meeting with the new king. king salman. they will be talking about focusing on the war on terror the shared fight against isis

also growing concern about instability in yemen and u.s.-backed government and the questions that have arisen for saudi arabia about its southern border which, of course yemen does border to its south. some very serious business going on. before he left here in india, the president gave a speech to a largely young audience. a half or more of one and a quarter billion people that live in india are under 35. he talked about what we've heard much of in the last days growing cooperation with india. some deals were struck on nuclear power agreement. the question is really moving forward will some of these things including trade deals actually come to fruition. if there is a disappointment is that in going to saudi arabia today the president and first lady were not able to go to the taj mahal but boston sides, india and united states believe the groundwork has been laid for important movement between these two countries in the future.

milissa. >> chris jansing, thank you. some other stories making news this morning. in new york it's like a classic cold war novel. after an investigation, people have been charged with being russian spies here in the u.s. they allegedly used coded messages and secret handoffs to gather intelligence on sanctions, alternative energy and send it back home. one of them worked in a new york city bank and and in court yesterday. the other two were diplomats and apparently fled back to russia. democrats in the senate are holding up a bill on the keystone xl pipeline. yesterday they blocked critical procedural hurdle extending a battle over one of the gop's top priorities taken control back in january. the sects released this photo. drone they say crashed onto the white house lawn in the predawn hours monday morning. they are interviewing a man who called in to say the drone was his. officials say it could have been

accidental. an upset at the open the owner of the patriots expects an apology over deflategate. plus marcus does his best air ball impression and it's pretty cool. i bring the gift of the name your price tool to help you find a price that fits your budget. uh-oh. the name your price tool. she's not to be trusted. kill her. flo: it will save you money! the name your price tool isn't witchcraft! and i didn't turn your daughter into a rooster. she just looks like that. burn the witch! the name your price tool a dangerously progressive idea. our tent is falling... you got it? we need nails. anncr: with just five minutes' prep, campbell's oven sauces help you cook a real dinner right in the middle of real life.

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debut their new documentary. and now to sports an upset at the australian open. third ranked nadal ousted by seventh ranked tomas berdych, ending seven-match losing streak against nadal but tying the record for the longest losing streak against another player. on the women's side second seed maria sharapova makarova are the first players to advance to semifinals. they will face each other next. and the patriots arrive monday just in time to escape the east coast blizzard. patriots owner robert kraft spoke to the media and made an impassioned plea for the actions involving deflategate controversy. >> i want to make the clear that i believe unconditionally that the new england patriots have done nothing inappropriate in

this process or in violation of nfl rules. if the wells investigation is not able to definitively determine that our organization tampered with the air pressure in the footballs, i would expect and hope that the league would apologize to our entire team and in particular coach belichick and tom brady. shifting to the nba, the lakers say kobe bryant is probably not going to play again this season. bryant is scheduled to have shoulder surgery on wednesday after suffering a torn rotator injury against the penguins. maybe an idea for a new fusion sport. just ahead, another check on the vicious blizzard tearing

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we want to take you to maine now where up to two feet of snow is expected. good morning, john and it looks look it's really coming down now.

>> it is coming down. it's been coming down the last couple of hours. the rate of more than two inches an hour. you've got sustained winds of 25 miles an hour. you've got a lot of swirling snow snow being blown around. it's supposed to be like this for the bulk of the daylight hours, not expected to taper off until after sundown and stop on wednesday. governor paula page has declared a state of emergency. government offices are closed. schools are closed. there are parking bans around the region until wednesday to allow snowplows to get through. you see some traffic moving here. there is not a traffic ban. they are asking nonessential traffic to stay off the roads. although traffic has been relatively light, we have seen some cabs. some people headed to work on this day, believe it or not. but mostly it is a quiet day.

the snow coming down is supposed to be like this the rest of the day. the peak of the storm later today the winds will pick up. the winds are strong but not nearly as strong as they will be later today when we get hurricane-force winds projected as the storm settles over portland. milissa. >> john yang stay safe out there. thank you. the blizzard knock out a number of entertainment events in manhattan. regularly scheduled broadway shows went dark because of the storm. home games for new york knicks postponed. comedian louis krl k. canceled his final show at madison square garden. meanwhile joan rivers daughter filed suit against new york city clinic where her mother suffered fatal complications during a throat procedure and the doctors involved. it a little the doctor took photos while she was sedated, that they waited 12 minutes to call 911 and left the room at a

critical juncture. the clink has not responded for a comment and no comment was available from the doctors. harry potter star emma watson announced on facebook she's been tapped to play bell on disney's new live action "beauty and the beast." >> what's happening? ♪ >> now, there's a birthday surprise. ellen degeneres got a surprise by vice president joe biden on her birthday. the veep gave her a bathrobe with the white house seal on it. very cool. i'm milissa rehberger, this is "early today." we hope it is just your first stop of the day on nbc. ♪ ah, push it. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ push it. ♪ ♪ p...push it real good! ♪ ♪ ♪

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when a potentially historic blizzard of this size bears down on a region, there's always one thing you can count on and that is empty shelves and long lines at the grocery store. nbc's harry smith went out to brave the aisles. >> reporter: no matter where we live, there's this thing we do when the really big one is about to hit, we storm the supermarket. >> i was in the store yesterday. it was totally mobbed and people were fighting for things. it was just, like, crazy. >> is it crazy or good planning? after all, we could be stuck in the house for days. >> we want to be ready so we'll be board. we got some cooking projects lemon meringue pie. kids picked out bubble bath in

case we're really board. >> reporter: social media showed us pictures of long lines and empty shelves, also what are storm essentials,cidesideessentials, cyd cider and chips. >> what's the most important thing you're going to have if you're going to hunker down in a storm like this. >> the beer is around the corner. >> you're ready to go? others at a fair way store in new york made more age appropriate decisions. >> graham crackers marshmallows. what's that? >> hershey. >> ready for s'mores. call it grocery therapy, the american way of feeling safe in the storm. harry smith, nbc news new york. well let's get one last check of the blizzard with nbc meteorologist bill karins. the kids have a great idea. s'mores is the perfect way to weather a storm. >> they aren't complaining. just get s'mores. a foot and a half of snow

reported in the woost ter area. highest reports on long island 14. it's not onlike everyone has been missed. we will still end up with close to three feet of snow when all is said and done. winds at their peak right now at this region 50 to 40-mile-an-hour wind gusts continue to batter eastern massachusetts. that's where the storm is the worst. when you're getting out the door and need the forecast in the west we did watch rain come you up through southern california. now making a run at sacramento and san francisco area. there are some people that need umbrellas. even in vegas we have a chance of getting showers 64 degrees. interior sections of the west boise, salt lake city and portland to seattle. as far as the blizzard goes is it going to be called historic blizzard? maybe only in isolated areas. it's not going to be a widespread i-95, you know conversation. >> all right. bill thank you very much. keep it right here for the very latest on the blizzard of 2015. i'm milissa rehberger. thanks very much for watching

"early today." have a terrific tuesday.

. it's fell by the inches. overnight, wind whipped snow from the east coast. people told to stay home. hours this morning. some are saying the experts got it wrong. plus here in the bay area investigators plan to walk a south bay neighborhood this had morning, hoping to find a fix for a dangerous stretch of roadways where a woman was just killed. and if you thought parachutes were just for passengers? think again. a pilot goes safely to a crash landing. from the san bruno camera, we can see n